Peculiarities of Hemostasis and Proteomics in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Healthy Volunteers After SARS-CоV-2 Infection.

Aim: To identify the features of plasma, platelet hemostasis, and proteomic composition of the blood plasma in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and healthy volunteers after COVID-19.

Material and methods: The study included patients with AMI who have recently had COVID-19 (AMI-post-COVID, n=56) and patients with AMI who have not recently had COVID-19 (AMI-control, n=141). Healthy volunteers constituted the control groups and were also divided into control-post-COVID (n=32) and control-control (n=71) groups. Previous SARS-CoV-2 infection was determined by anti-N IgG in the blood serum, the level of which persists for 6-10 months after the disease. Hemostasis was evaluated by thromboelastometry (on whole blood), thrombodynamics (on platelet-poor plasma), fibrinolysis, impedance aggregometry, and proteomic analysis.

Results: The AMI-post-COVID and AMI-control groups had higher values of thrombus growth rate, size and density based on the data of thromboelastometry and thrombodynamics, as well as increased concentrations of the complement system components, proteins regulating the state of the endothelium, and a number of acute-phase and procoagulant proteins compared to the control groups. Furthermore, in the AMI-post-COVID group, compared to the AMI-control group, the thrombus density was lower, and its lysis rates were higher when measured by the thrombodynamics method on platelet-poor plasma, while the platelet aggregation induced by ADP and thrombin was higher. Also, in the control-post-COVID group, compared to the control-control group, the thrombus formation rate was lower, whereas, in contrast, the thrombus size as measured by the thrombodynamics method and the platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid and thrombin were higher. In addition, in the AMI-post-COVID group, compared to the AMI-control group, the concentrations of proteins involved in inflammation and hemostasis were lower.

Conclusion: Patients with AMI who have recently had COVID-19 are characterized by a less pronounced activation of the immune response compared to patients with AMI who have not had COVID-19. This may be due to long-term chronic inflammation and depletion of components of the immune activation system after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Long-term activation of the hemostasis system in both patients with AMI and healthy volunteers after COVID-19 is primarily due to the platelet component of hemostasis.